THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1909. EMPEROR AND CZAR SAY--- "PEACE."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9587, 6 September 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1909. EMPEROR AND CZAR SAY---"PEACE."

The German Emperor has given a striking account of the inner meaning of-his recent meeting with the Czar of Russia in Finnish waters. The London papers have had very little to say about this statement. The "Daily Telegraph" was the only one which gave a long leader to it. The statement of the Emperor in favour of Peace is so emphatic that it must be put on record for future use, if necessary. The Emperor's statement, made when he distributed the prizes to the winners of the yacht races at the meeting of the North German Regatta Society on the Lower Elbe, ran thus:—"You have all followed with interest my journey to the Fir.nish Skerries, where I was accorded such a warm and hospitable reception by the Em - peror of All the Russias, I am glad to be in a position to give you, as the representatives of the world of commerce., who are so deeply interested in the peaceful development of the future, the following assurance of the importance of the visit. The Czar Nicholas and I agreed there that our meeting is to be regarded as a vigorous reinforcement of the cause of peace. All peoples need peace. We feel ourselves as Monarchs responsible to our God for the joys and sorrows of our peoples, whom we desire to lead forward, as far as possible, on the path or p--ace and> to raise to their full development. All peoples need peace in order, under its protection, to fulfil undisturbed (he duties of civilisation for | their economic and commercial development. We will both, therefore, continually endeavour, as far as lies I in our power to work with God's | help, for the furtherance and maintenance of peace. (Prolonged cheers)." The "Daily Telegraph's" comment on these bold statements runs thus:—"Whatever view is taken of the tendencies of latter-day German foreign policy—and there is much in it to inspire distrust—no one questions the absolute sincerity either of the Kaiser's utterances or of his pacific intentions. 'The Czar Nicholas and I,' he told the Burgomaster of Hamburg and his colleagues, 'agreed that our meeting is to be regarded as a vigorous reinforcement of the cause of peace.' These are encouraging words uttered, as we have said, with unquestionable sincerity, and they were received with prolonged applause. Read, howeyer, in cold blood, they do not help us far towards shaking off that sense of unrest and of ira • pending trouble to which Lord Rosebery so forcibly alluded at the in •

augural banquet of the Imperial Press Conference. There is not a Sovereign in Europe, or a stateman, j or even a publicist, so deranged, so j perverse, or so criminal as to want j war; there is not a man who would not with like sincerity express j with equal fervour the aspirations set forth in the Emperor's words. ; War is like disease: everybody prays against it, and shudders at its approach; but, like disease, wars break upon us in spite of our fervent prayers. Why is Europe nervous and apprehensive? It is because Europe has had a shock. Treaties have been torn up almost without warning, almost insolently; pieparations for war are hurried on with feverish haste, and even in the very speech with which we are dealing the Emperor, referring to his new yacht, said: 'Thus at length proof of what I have been striving after for years is afforded, that in yachtmaking also we stand on our own feet, as in the construction of warships and steamers An innocent and even a laudable paean. But what does it lead to? Germany is entering upon a ruinous competition for a position on the sea —if not at present of supremacy, at least-of a stage towards supremacy. Every nation has a right to its own aspirations, and the 'Mistress of the Sea' is bound to see that none usurps the right to a title which is not one of vaingloriousness, but which is in stern reality, the oniy guarantee of her independence and her Imperial existence. The constant growth of the German fleet is not a challenge to Great Britain,- but it is the indispensable and antecedent condition of ability to challenge should time and circmstances demand. So this coun ry, which does not nourish a sinf Id aggressive design, which wan cs nothing and ask for nothing—na>, which would not accept anything as a gift—is obliged to join in a competition which involves the heavi ■ e.st sacrifices."